Simon Rrota, painter, meritorious painter, was born in Shkodër. In his hometown, he received his first painting lessons from Kolë Idromeno. During the years 1910–1915 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. After returning to his homeland, he first worked as a photographer in Fier and Lushnjë, then a stage decorator at the artistic society “Bogdani” and “Rozafa” in Shkodra, and then a drawing teacher in the high school of Shkodra. His work includes compositions, portraits, landscapes and carbon drawings. The painting “Battle of Skanderbeg” (1916) has a historical theme. He dealt with motifs of everyday life and ethnography “Te pusi i fshatit” (“At the village well”), “Portë në Shkodër” (“Gate in Shkodër”), “Përgatitja e drekës” (“Preparing lunch”), giving the color of the folk costumes of the Shkodra area. The best works (44 works) are kept in the National Art Gallery and in the Art Gallery of Shkodra. He passed away in 1961. (In the photo: The work of Rota “At the village well”, 1934.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2286.
Photo: © http://www.albanianart.net/painting/rota/
Graphic processing: AHCF
